Good Books

Roger Mills wrote at 2004-03-04 19:56:48 (-0500)
 > And Rosta wrote:
 >
 > > Andreas:
 > > > Quoting David Peterson <ThatBlueCat@...>:
 > > >
 > > > > Also, as opposed to Tolkien, it's actually good writing and
 > > > > literature, and worth reading.
 >
 > As one who appreciates Tolkien-- but alas, not usually for his
 > prose style-- let me rise to David's defense.  Nabokov's _Pale
 > Fire_ is indeed well written and worth reading. (I don't recall the
 > Slavic conlang bit, but let that pass...........).  I don't think
 > David was saying that JRRT was _not_ worth reading, except in
 > comparison with VN.  (OK, have I inserted my foot far enough??)
 >

Isn't it possible to interpret David's sentence such that "as opposed
to Tolkien" only applies to "it's actually good writing and literature"
and not "worth reading"?  That seems like a much more reasonable
position for a conlanger.

I may as well recommend some books while I'm writing this.  (I agree
with all the above recommendations that I've read, and those I haven't
are on my reading list.)  _A Practical Introduction to Phonetics_, by
J. C. Catford, is a pretty good introduction to phonetics (I haven't
read all of this book, but I like it so far).  Mithun's _The Languages
of Native North America_ is wideranging and affordable, if you're
interested in that kind of thing.